Shootings: Appeal for help

COMMUNITY groups have appealed for witnesses to come forward after a man was killed and a teenage boy and another man injured in a night of shootings. Police are yet to state if two incidents that happened nearby in Manchester at around midnight on Friday are related. A 23-year-old man was murdered in a drive-by shooting that also injured a 33-year-old man just before midnight.

COMMUNITY groups have appealed for witnesses to come forward after a man was killed and a teenage boy and another man injured in a night of shootings.

Police are yet to state if two incidents that happened nearby in Manchester at around midnight on Friday are related.

A 23-year-old man was murdered in a drive-by shooting that also injured a 33-year-old man just before midnight.

A few minutes later a 14-year-old boy nearby was shot in the leg.

The death was the third shooting in the city in just a week, but senior police officers denied gun crime is out of control as community leaders sought to calm the situation.

Not natural

Tony Winter, co-ordinator of community group Manchester Street Pastors, asked for anyone with information to contact the police.

"I think people need to recognise that on these occasions when people die, then they need to come forward because it's no longer the natural community, because it's not natural for people to die," he said.

"None of us here are saying that this isn't a dreadful problem, but I am encouraged and I think we're all encouraged by the fact that you can see this response from the community, and all parts of the community, to come together and to continue the good work that has been going.

The latest violence comes after a week of incidents around a small group of districts to the west of the city.

On Thursday a 16-year-old boy targeted in a drive-by shooting in Hartington Road, Moss Side, escaped with a minor injury to his leg.

And on Tuesday a 36-year-old man was shot in the hip in Longsight.

Fight

Chief Superintendent David Keller denied that gun crime was out of control but said it was "a difficult time" in the fight against it.

"We have stepped up patrols, we have armed operations running and high-profile local police officers working in conjunction with the community and I would reassure the community that whilst these incidents do attract a lot of attention, they are very, very rare and the chances of you being a victim are very small."

Mr Keller said that the public was helping to tackle gun crime. "There is a problem in terms of getting people to come forward, but what I would say is that over the years we have had some significant successes," he said.

"We've had a lot of successes and we're just having a difficult time at the moment."

Anyone with any information about the incidents or the Honda is asked to contact Longsight Police Station on 0161 856 4298 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.